Instructor: Rob Smith
Office: TRC, 170
Phone: 410-455-2760
Email: rob@umbc.edu (Please include 247P in the subject line)

Office Hours: By Appointment – Generally I will try to be available before and after class.
A portion of each class will be set aside for answering questions.

Required Text:
McClanahan, David. PowerBuilder 6: A Developer’s Guide. M&T Books, An International Data Group Company, Foster City, CA. 1998. ISBN: 1-55851-581-X.

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Course Description:
An overview of the features of PowerBuilder 6.0 will be presented. Client server development concepts, event-driven Windows programming, and database manipulation using SQL will be introduced. PowerBuilder’s implementation of Object-Oriented programming concepts will be covered. Each of the PowerBuilder painters will be examined with particular attention to DataWindow objects and controls.

Course Objectives:
After taking this course, the student will:

• Understand the principles of event-driven programming.
  
• Understand the client-server development model.
  
• Be able to create Windows programs using the PowerBuilder development environment.
  
• Be able to use a variety of controls to design a graphical user interface.
  
• Be able to manipulate a variety of controls programmatically.
  
• Be able to create a database application.
  
• Be able to use inheritance.
  

Class Format:
Half of each class session will be conducted as lecture. The other half of class time will be directed exercises and time for working on projects.

Course Grading:
IFSM instructors are expected to have exams and evaluations which result in a reasonable distribution of grades. With respect to final letter grades, the University's Undergraduate Catalogue states that, "A, indicates superior achievement; B, good performance; C, adequate performance; D, minimal performance; F, failure" There is specifically no mention of any numerical scores associated with these letter grades. Consequently, there are no pre-defined numerical demarcations that determine final letter grades. These numerical demarcations that determine final letter grades can only be defined at the end of the semester after all numerical grades have been earned. At that point, numerical demarcations for final letter grades can be defined such that final letter grades in this course conform to the University's officially published definitions of the respective letter grades. In accordance with the published University grading policy, it is important to understand that final letter grades reflect academic achievement and not effort. While mistakes in the arithmetic computation of grades and grade recording errors will always be corrected, it is important to understand that in all other situations final letter grades are not negotiable and challenges to final letter grades are not entertained. (Historical data suggest an "A" may be in the 92-100 range while "C" grades range from 70-84.) Cumulative grades may be curved to meet the following ranges:15-20% will get "A's", 25-30% will get "B's", 35-40% will get "C's". Students who drop the course are considered to be below "C".

Projects:
Projects will be submitted to the instructor via email. The pbl files and the compiled executable will be emailed to the instructor. The date and time stamp on the email project will be used to determine lateness. Late projects will have one letter grade per day deducted from their score. Each project is worth 100 points.

Exams:
Exams will consist of multiple choice and true or false questions. No make-up exams will be given except under extreme circumstances, and only when permission is received from the instructor in advance. Each exam is worth 100 points.

Class Participation:
It is expected that students will attend all classes and participate in the lab activities. Students start off the semester with 100 class participation points. Students may miss one class without affecting their points. Each missed class thereafter will result in a 10 point reduction.

Scholastic Integrity:
Students are expected to maintain a high standard of personal scholastic integrity. Cheating on exams or assignments, plagiarizing, interfering with another student’s work, any other misrepresentation of the student’s work, etc are serious offences and will be handled by the appropriate authorities in the department and the university. DO NOT COPY ANY CODE VERBATIM FROM ANOTHER STUDENT’S PROJECT!!!

Course Calendar

May 30 - Introduction to Course Programming in PowerBuilder/PowerScript Lab:FirstApp (pages 116 – 130) Read: Chapters 1 - 3 June 1 - Creating Windows Windows Controls Part 1 Lab:FirstWin (pages 156 – 164) Read:Chapters 4 and 5 June 6 - Windows Controls Part II Read: Chapters 6 and 8 June 8 - Events, Functions, User Events June 13 - Menus Compiling Submitting Project June 15 - Keyboard Trapping *** PROJECT 1 DUE BY MIDNIGHT 6/18/2000 *** June 20 - Exam #1 Introduction to Database Connectivity Configuring ODBC Read:Chapter 9 June 22 - DataWindow Objects DataWindow Controls Read:Chapter 16 June 27 - DataWindow Functions Embedded SQL Review of File Operations from Chapter 8 June 29 - Open Class Time for Project 2 July 4 - HOLIDAY - NO CLASS July 6 - Exam #2 – No Lecture Following Exam *** PROJECT 2 DUE BY MIDNIGHT 7/9/2000 ***